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WATERFORD, Mich. – May 11, 2011 – Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson today honored six Main Street Oakland County communities for their accreditation by the National Main Street Center in Washington D.C. All six communities achieved a perfect score of 10 out of 10 for their annual evaluation.

The communities honored were: Farmington, Ferndale, Lake Orion, Ortonville, Oxford and Rochester. Patterson presented each of the six Main Street Oakland County (MSOC) communities with a certificate recognizing their accomplishment and detailing investment that totals more than half a billion dollars in the program’s 11 years.

“The perfect scores attained by these six Main Street communities in their annual evaluation attests to the hard work of many in our downtown areas involved with our Main Street Oakland County program,” said Patterson. “This is a wonderful and well-deserved recognition.”

The ceremony took place at the Rust Belt Market, 22801 Woodward Ave., in Ferndale, downtown’s newest business. To be considered for the national accreditation, the communities met each of the following:

1. Broad-based community support for downtown revitalization
2. A clear mission and vision statement for the downtown
3. A downtown revitalization work plan
4. A historic preservation ethic recognizing the importance of sense of place
5. A downtown management organization
6. An adequate operating budget
7. Paid professional program manager
8. Ongoing training for staff and volunteers
9. Reporting of key investment statistics
10. National Main Street membership

Main Street is a trademarked program of the National Main Street Center in Washington, D.C. Farmington, Ferndale, Franklin, Highland, Holly, Lake Orion, Ortonville, Oxford, Pontiac, Rochester and Walled Lake are MSOC communities. Berkley, Clarkston, Clawson, Hazel Park, Leonard, South Lyon, and Waterford participate in the mentoring program.

Since its inception in 2000, there has been:
• More than $560 million of new investment in MSOC communities
• More than 5,100 jobs created
• 551 new businesses
• More than 1,100 buildings rehabilitated
• Almost 170,000 volunteer hours used.

Oakland County was the first county in the United States to operate a county-wide Main Street program.

For more information, see the MSOC website, www.mainstreetoaklandcounty.com.